ESSA Success up to Everyone, say Atkinson and Chu

ESSA Success up to Everyone, say Atkinson and Chu

Former North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson and former senior education official in Indiana and Florida Dale Chu have been watching the development and rollout of ESSA in states, and say there is “no point in sugarcoating” ESSA’s “rocky start.” In an Education Week op-ed, Atkinson and Chu write that “one of us (Dale Chu) examined important aspects of state ESSA plans as part of an independent peer review” [the Collaborative for Student Success’ and Bellwether Education Partners Check State Plans initiative] that identifies both the good and the bad of these plans. Among the bad: too many states “failed to provide details about how their systems would address the performance of students, especially those that are too often marginalized by society.” States “can and must do better, but they can’t do it alone.”